TRAMPS ACROSS GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
massif of Mount Kilpatrick (10,624
feet), first ascended in 1909 by E. W. D.
Holway, F. K. Butters, and H. Palmer.
'lo the left, barely visible over the col
at the valley's head, rises Mount Wheeler
(11,023 feet), second only to Mount
Dawson among the monarchs of the
southern Selkirks.
Next to the west come four nameless
peaks, and then the range terminates
in the majestic mass of Mount Purity,
perhaps the most striking peak of all.
Seen from the upper slopes of the
Bishops Range, this silvery spire, with
its graceful aretes, symmetrical but
tresses, and unique snow curtain lighted
by the afternoon sun and outlined against
a sky of deepest blue, forms a picture
never to be forgotten.
BATTLE RANGE AND BATTLE GLACIER
Beyond the Purity Range to the south
the country is practically a terra incog
nita. A strip averaging about four miles
wide along the range is shown on the
government map, but the data for this
was obtained from distant photographs
taken on the summits of Mounts Wheeler
and Purity, and as far as we could learn
no one had actually crossed the range
to explore the district in detail. Below
this strip the map was blank except for
the words "Battle Range" in heavy type.
Since our first view of this region from
the Purity Range it has interested us,
and we had desired to accept the covert,
though none the less alluring, challenge
of the map, but previously to July, 1909,
conditions had prevented our doing so.
That month, however, found our party
of three encamped on the flanks of the
Bishops Range, all preparations com
pleted for a visit to the virgin valley of
the Battle glaciers.
The chief difficulty in our undertaking
was to find a way down the southerly
slopes of the Purity Range, for from
Mount Kilpatrick these appeared to form
a continuous wall of practically sheer
cliffs along that side.
The northerly
slopes, on the contrary, looked ac-ssible
everywhere, so we selected the deepest
notch in the skyline for our first trial.
This cut the range near the middle and
could be reached witn facility from our
camp. It took a morning's hard work
to solve the maze of crevasses in the
intervening feeder of the Black Glacier,
but toward 2: 30 p. m. we pushed into
the col.
One hasty glance over showed that we
had probably found a pass, for a steep
singer of snow reached up from the fur
ther glacier right to our feet, bridging
the rock wall in the neatest manner pos
sible. Still, the entire route of descent
was not visible, and a crest in the glacier
below suggested the beginning of an ice
fall likely to form a serious if not in
superable obstacle, but we unanimously
decided to risk it notwithstanding.
The view of the deep valley of Battle
Creek was grand beyond description. On
either hand rose rocky walls fringed with
hanging glaciers, while below them in
the valley wound another, the huge Bat
tle Glacier, four miles from source to
tip. Across the valley in the background
soared the nameless black peaks of the
Battle Range in formidable array. Sharp
ridges of nearly equal height walled in
high glacier basins, below which black,
rocky slopes, shining with moisture,
pitched steeply into the valley.
The most elevated point seemed to rise
at the right, where a single rounded sum
mit pierced the sky at an altitude not far
from II,ooo feet. From its shoulders
the snow fell away to the largest glacier
in the group. All this formed an allur
ing, although somewhat forbidding, pros
pect.
We returned to camp and a day or two
later again made the col, this time labor
ing under 40-pound packs. With scarcely
a pause we plunged down the snow to
the glacier and began a winding march
between its crevasses. As we had feared,
the crest seen from above concealed a
huge ice-fall.
The glacier was gashed from side to
side for fully 2,000 feet down. Surely
our way was not there. Carefully fol
lowing the edge, we turned to our left
and made for the margin of the stream,
where at length we _were rewarded -by
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